Unbreakable Love
by taylorisbeast
Summary: What happens when Randy Orton is stuck in the middle of a love triangle? Does he choose his wife that he is content with, or the girl he feels was created just for him? COMPLETE SUMMARY INSIDE!
1. Complete Summary

**I was asked to write this story by DivaliciousDooL. This is just the complete summary, but the first chapter will be coming soon! **

* * *

What happens when Randy Orton is stuck in the middle of a love triangle? Does he choose his wife that he is content with, or the girl he feels was created just for him? Samantha Orton and Mara don't have much in common. Sam is a mother and the wife of a well known WWE superstar, while Mara was a law student and now a WWE Diva. However, after what appears to be fate, Mara meets Randy Orton and John Cena. Out of guilt for not being able to help Mara train like he promised, Cena convinces Orton to train her. Reluctant at first, he tries to keep his distance but soon realizes he is just drawn to this girl and they quickly become best friends. She brings out a side of Orton that only his daughter seems to know. Knowing it is wrong that he has feelings for a person other than his wife, will he choose the easy way and just stick with his wife and high school sweetheart? Or will he go through a divorce risking the fact that his daughter might not take Mara like he did? That his wife might seek revenge by keeping his daughter away from him? So who will he pick: the one with the ring, or the one he feels was made just for him?


	2. Chapter 1

**I was asked to write this story by DivaliciousDooL, so the idea of the story belongs completely to her!**

**Please let me know what you think of the story so far (:**

* * *

"You just graduated from law school, and you want to go into wrestling? What the hell are you thinking?" Mara's mom yelled at her while pacing around in the living room. It was true, Mara had just graduated from Harvard Law School, and now she was throwing it all away to join the WWE.

"You know it's always been a dream of mine, mother. Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"I can't be happy for you, because I spent so much of _my _money to send you to a school you begged me to go to! You're throwing it all away, Mara! I can't let you do that."

"You can let me do what I want to do and leave me alone about it. If you don't want to support me and my decision, then just leave, okay? Nothing is stopping you. I'm definitely not going to stop you. I don't need you in my life if you're not going to be supportive of me. I'll send you a check once a month to pay you back for all the money you spent to send me to college. When you decide to support my decision, you can let me know. But until then, I don't want you in my life anymore."

"I can't support your decision, because you're throwing your life away." Mara simply and silently shook her head and looked down at the floor.

"You don't understand, mother. Wrestling has always been a dream of mine, and I've finally gotten the opportunity to do it. Nothing is going to stand in my way. Wrestling is my passion, and it is what will make me happy. Just let me live my life; let me do what I want. Right now, being a lawyer is not what I want. I want to be a WWE Diva. I'm going to be a WWE Diva, whether you like it or not." Mara looked up at her mother, who was standing there with her eyes wide open and her teeth clenched together. "Now please leave."

Mara watched as her mom sighed and walked out of her front door. She had to admit, she felt slightly sad, but she didn't need anyone bringing her down. That's all her mother would do. She walked silently into her bedroom and began packing her suitcases. She was leaving tomorrow to start her new life in the WWE. Everything was going to be completely different for her. She started training the day after tomorrow and she had no idea who her trainer was going to be, yet. She got to meet them as soon as she landed tomorrow, though, since they were picking her up from the airport.

Mara stuffed all the clothes she could into her first suitcase. When that one was full, she stuffed the next one with shoes. Her last bag was for her personal hygiene items. As soon as she was all packed, she crawled into bed and fell asleep, excited about the next day.

* * *

The plane ride from Massachusetts to Los Angeles wasn't as long or as horrible as Mara thought it was going to be. Six hours after taking off from Massachusetts, Mara's plane was landing in Los Angeles, where the WWE would be for the next two weeks. Mara could hardly control her excitement as she exited the plane and found her way to baggage claim to collect her bags.

* * *

John was putting on his sneakers when there was knock on his door.

"Door's cracked, come in!" He looked up when he heard the footsteps enter his room. "What's up, man?"

"Don't you have some new chick to go pick up from the airport?" Randy asked his best friend.

"Nah, I sent Eve to get her. I figured she'd be more comfortable meeting a girl first before meeting me. Anyways, I'm supposed to be training her, so she's going to be stuck with me for a while. I might as well let her meet one other person before I make her put all of her time into training."

"You're going to end up killing her with how you've been talking about it. She's new, maybe you should take it easy."

"If she's as serious about this business as she seems to think she is, then what I have planned for her is going to be super easy. She just graduated law school and decided to be a Diva. Who even does that?"

"I guess she is passionate about it, then. If Alanna ever did that to me, though, I'm pretty sure I'd want to kill her. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean."

John raised his eyebrows at his friend before chuckling and throwing a pillow at him. Sometimes things Randy said were very inappropriate, and luckily half the time he was just kidding.

* * *

Mara looked around for someone that looked familiar to her. She wasn't sure who she was supposed to be looking for, and didn't understand why no one could tell her who was picking her up. Her eyes scanned over the faces of everyone in the airport before landing on one person she thought she recognized from the World Wrestling Entertainment world. She smiled slightly before walking up to the woman scanning the room just as Mara was a few short seconds before. Mara's heart was speeding up out of excitement and nervousness. She couldn't believe this was actually happening.

As soon as Mara made it to the woman, she smiled widely and extended her hand. "I'm Mara Blair, I think you're supposed to be picking me up." The woman in front of her grinned widely as well, and instead of taking her hand, she embraced her in a huge hug. Mara's eyes widened, taken aback by the hug. Nonetheless, she hugged back.

"I'm Eve Torres, which you obviously know that. I was getting nervous. I had no idea who I was supposed to be looking for. I'm so glad that you've joined WWE, and I know we're going to be great friends. I can't wait to get to know you. Well, in the little time I have to get to know you. I know your trainer is set on keeping you busy for a while. He probably won't even let you have much free time, be prepared." Eve was talking so fast, and barely taking any breaths. Her words began to jumble together and soon Mara couldn't understand what she was saying. She suddenly stopped. "I'm sorry, I'm talking so much. I have a tendency to do that with new people. I just get so excited. Like, I've been so excited to meet you since John told me earlier to come pick you up from the airport." She stopped again. "Crap, I just told you who your trainer is. I wasn't supposed to let that slip. Just act surprised when you see him, don't let him know I told you. He'd probably glare at me until I melted into a puddle on the floor."

Mara giggled quietly. Every time Eve talked, she talked a mile a minute. Mara never understood how anyone could talk that fast. Then it hit her. John Cena was going to be her trainer. She had been a huge fan of his ever since he came into the WWE. Even if he was going to make her life hell in training, she couldn't wait, and couldn't have asked for anyone better to be trained by.


	3. Chapter 2

**I was asked to write this story by DivaliciousDooL, so the idea of the story and Mara belong completely to her!**

**Please let me know what you think of the story so far (:**

* * *

Eve and Mara pulled into the parking lot of the arena, and Eve parked the car and turned her head to the right to look at Mara. "John's inside waiting on you. I don't know what he has planned for you tonight, but whatever it is, just don't give up. I know he can be really intense, but it's all for your own good. You're going to be amazing, and I know you have a lot of passion for this business. Just keep pushing forward. You've got this." Eve grinned at Mara.

"Thank you, Eve. I'm so glad you were the one to pick me up from the airport. I feel like I've really connected with you already." Mara smiled back. Eve patted her shoulder and the two girls got out of the car. Mara took a deep breath when she made it to the door leading to the backstage area of the arena. Eve's words were on replay in her mind, and she wasn't expecting them to leave anytime soon. She never really expected Eve to be the person she would be closest to while she was here, but she was glad Eve was nice to her and she had the opportunity to meet her first.

"I'm going to take you to John's locker room, but I have a match tonight, so I'm going to have to leave you alone there. I'm sure I'll see you after the show, though." Mara nodded at her new friend and felt the nerves set in. She knew it was cliché, but she felt the butterflies in her stomach multiply.

"I really can't believe I'm doing this. I might throw up."

"You'll be fine, girl. I felt the exact same way when I first started. But look where I am, now. Everything will be totally worth it." Eve stopped at a door that Mara figured was John's locker room. She knocked quietly and turned to Mara to give her a slight smile, calming her nerves a little. The door opened and revealed John Cena standing behind it in his regular attire; a t-shirt and jean shorts. A huge grin broke out on his face when he saw the two girls standing before him. He wrapped a muscled arm around Eve and hugged her to him.

"John, this is Mara. Mara, this is John, which I'm sure you already knew that." Mara giggled. Of course she knew who John Cena was. Only a person without a brain wouldn't know who he was. Eve leaned closer to John and whispered quietly, "Look, she's really nervous, so just go easy on her, okay?" Mara tried hard to listen to what Eve was whispering, but with no luck. John nodded and smirked at Eve a little before holding his hand out towards Mara for her to shake.

"It's nice to meet you finally, Mara. I've been hearing about you for weeks. I'm sorry I couldn't pick you up from the airport, a few things came up and I figured you'd be more comfortable meeting a woman first. But, I promise within these next few weeks, I'm going to teach you everything you need to know and more about wrestling. You're going to move your way on up the Divas' division and whoop some ass." Eve's jaw dropped, which caused a laugh to escape from both Mara and John. "And yes, Eve, that even means you. She's going to be kicking ass and taking names from now on!"

John seemed nice enough. Mara didn't figure she was going to have any problems with getting along with him. He didn't seem as bad as Eve was making him out to be. But, she understood that this was only the first meeting. They had a lot to do, so he still had a lot of time to change his attitude. "It's nice to meet you too, John. You have no idea how excited I am to have this opportunity; especially the opportunity to train with you. When Eve told me you were my trainer-" Mara felt an elbow in her side and quickly closed her mouth. She was more like even than she thought; letting things slip that definitely weren't supposed to. Mara turned towards Eve and gave her a slight grin before mouthing "Sorry."

"So Eve couldn't keep a secret? I figured she wouldn't have been able to. But, that's okay." John chuckled. "Now, if you'd excuse us, Eve, Mara and I need to discuss our itinerary for the rest of today, as well as the rest of the week."

"That's my cue to leave. I'll see you later, Mara, and I'll bring your stuff by your room later. Don't let him scare you off." Mara giggled as Eve pulled her into yet another huge hug. That girl was so hyper; Mara couldn't help but wonder if she had an off switch somewhere.

Eve turned to leave, heading to her own locker room while John called out behind her, "I'm not going to scare her off! If anyone scares her, it's going to be you and your crazy ass!" If Mara kept giggling like a little school girl with everything everyone said, she was going to make people think that she was crazy, as well. "You ready to get started?"

Mara nodded her head excitedly with a huge grin on her face. "I can't wait!" John proceeded to invite her into his locker room and closed the door behind them.

"Right now we're just going to discuss what our plans are for this week. Now, I'm not going to work you to the point of exhaustion, but you are going to have to work pretty damn hard. I have faith in you, and I know that you can do everything that I have planned. For the rest of today, though, I'm just going to take you around and introduce you to some of the superstars. Some of them aren't going to like you, because you're new. But most of them are going to take to you well, just like Eve has. Most of us are really welcoming around here, but you'll find some of the superstars who are just jerks. You'll be surprised with who those people are. So tonight is pretty much a free night. You won't get too many of those." He chuckled. "For the rest of this week, we're going to just be doing most of the basics, so it's going to be a pretty smooth and easy-going week. If you ever think that I'm working you too hard, just let me know. But like I said before, I'm pretty sure you can handle it."

Mara just nodded her head while everything John said sank into her brain. By now he was probably thinking she was a freak, for she still hadn't spoken and he was staring at her with his eyebrows raised. "I'm sorry; I was just letting everything sink in." She spoke quickly.

"It's perfectly fine. Do you have any questions about anything?" John stared at the younger lady in front of him, watching as she shook her head no. "Well, we have an hour until Raw starts, so we can go ahead and start meeting people and we can grab us a sandwich or something, as well."

"Sounds good to me, I'm starving!"

John chuckled, "You don't seem like you talk a lot."

"Oh, it just takes me a while to get used to people. When I'm around you a lot you're never going to get me to shut up, trust me. But when I was with Eve earlier, I hardly had the chance to get in two words. She's so hyper and talks so much. Is she always like that?"

"Yes, you can hardly ever get a word in with her. Sometimes you just gotta' tell her to shut up. Sure, her feelings might get hurt a little, but other people have to get their words in too."

"I mean, I don't mind her talking, at all. It's just exhausting listening to her. But, I definitely think I've found a best friend in her."

"She's a wonderful friend." John sighed. "I sound like a girl. But she'll be there for you if you need her. I'll be there for you, as well. Don't forget that. I'm not only going to be your trainer, but I hope to be a friend, too." Mara smiled up at him. She was glad that John had taken too her so well. She wasn't all that confident that he would like her, but she was glad he did.

John and Mara continued walking down the hallway until the saw a group of a few superstars standing in front of a doorway. John started walking towards them and motioned for Mara to follow him. Her heart started beating fast and she felt the butterflies again. She wondered if she was going to feel this way about every superstar she met. She had never been one to just talk to anyone, but she knew this business was definitely going to take her out of her shell. John put his arm around her and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "You can't be nervous. You've just got to talk to them; they won't bite." Mara laughed and calmed down a little before they made it to the small group of people. She recognized all of them, but she would let John introduce her anyways.

"Hey, guys!" John exclaimed, coming to the group and doing that man hand shake every man does. After he greeted everyone in the group, they turned to look at Mara. John turned to her as well. "Guys, this is Mara. She's the new Diva you have all be hearing about. I'm going to be training her for the next few weeks. You all better be nice to her too."

"Of course, man. You know we're the nicest people on this roster. Any friend of John Cena is a friend of ours." Phil Brooks, better known as CM Punk, winked at his friend. Mara watched as John rolled his eyes. "I'm Phil, you can call me whatever you like, though. It's nice to meet you." Phil took Mara's hand in his and kissed the top of it. Mara smiled sweetly at him as she went to shake the hand of the rest of the guys in the group. Sheamus, Cody Rhodes, Kofi Kingston, and Mike Mizanin were all just as sweet as Phil, greeting her the same way he did.

Mara's eyes fell on the last man in the group and her heart began speeding up once again. She didn't see how they couldn't see it through her shirt. She was absolutely freaking out. She had always wanted to meet this guy in person, but never had the chance. The man standing in front of her took her hand in his and kissed the top of it slowly. Looking up into her eyes, he smiled, "I'm Randy, it's nice to finally see the face behind the girl I've been hearing so much about lately, and it's nice to finally get the chance to meet you."


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: I was asked to write this story by DivaliciousDooL, so the idea of the story and Mara belong completely to her!**

**IMPORTANT: I have a few ideas for my next story, which I'm not going to start until I get at least one of the stories I have going finished, but I want your opinion on which superstar you want to be involved in my next story. I'm not going to tell the ideas for the stories yet, but I do have the superstars already fit into the stories, so I'm just wondering which story you guys would want posted first. I have a story with Wade Barrett, The Miz, and Chris Jericho. Please let me know which story you'd like to have posted first. And please let me know what you think about this chapter (:**

* * *

All Mara could do for a few seconds, was grin stupidly at Randy. Finally, she snapped out of it. Her face flushed and she looked down to the floor before looking back up at him. "It's nice to meet you, as well. And it's nice to meet all of you guys. Thank you for being so welcoming."

"Like Punky here said, any friend of John's is a friend of ours." Sheamus chuckled. "You're welcome to chill with us whenever you'd like." Mara smiled at his kindness and thanked him once more.

"Well, I guess we're going to head off and let her meet more people. We'll see you around." John started walking away and Mara followed behind. When they were about to turn the corner, she looked back over her shoulder at Randy. He winked at her and she grinned widely back at him. If he weren't married, she could definitely see herself with him. But since he was married, her fantasies were just going to have to stay inside her mind.

John continued to lead Mara around the arena and introduced her to everyone they ran into on the way. By the time they made it to catering, Mara had met all the Divas and most of the Superstars. Most were welcoming, but there were a couple who weren't too fond of her already. She could tell she was going to have problems with Beth Phoenix. But according to John, she wasn't too friendly with anyone.

The pair made it back to John's locker room with five minutes to spare. John had a segment at the beginning of the show, so he was rushing to get his wristbands on before the stagehand knocked on the door to get him to the curtain.

"You can just hang here until I'm back, or you can go walk around. Whichever is fine. I should be back in about fifteen minutes, though." Mara nodded as John rushed out of his locker room and to the curtain. Mara turned the TV on in the locker room and made herself at home on the couch.

* * *

As soon as John made it backstage after his segment, AJ walked up to him. "Stephanie needs to speak with you really quick before you run off and we can't find you." A look of confusion swept across John's face, but was gone just about as soon as it appeared. He followed the short brunette in the direction of Stephanie's office. He knocked and heard her muffled voice tell him to come in. He stepped into the office, followed by AJ, and closed the door behind them.

"You needed to see me?" He asked. Stephanie looked up from the papers she was looking at and smiled at him.

"Yes, sir. Now, I know that you were supposed to be the one training the newest Diva, Mara, but something has come up and you won't be able to do that." John's face fell. He had already gotten close to her and promised her that he was going to train her and teach her everything that he could. He couldn't just go back on his promise to her. "You look a little upset by this news."

"Well, yeah, I actually am. I've come to like that girl and I promised her that I was going to train her. I don't like breaking promises. Why exactly can I not train her anymore?"

"Well, I was going to put you in charge of finding the person who was going to train her. I know you'll find someone perfect to train her." John sighed. "But, the reason that you're not going to be able to train her is because we've been asked to have you participate in this season of Dancing with the Stars. I know it sounds silly to have you on there, but it's a great opportunity for our company, as well as for you. We would really like for you to consider it. You'd have to leave Wednesday to start your own training for the show, but you would be back each week for Raw. You wouldn't have time to train Mara with all of this going on. I want you to appoint someone you think is suitable to do the job. Please just let me know your decision by the end of the night."

John stared at Stephanie with a blank expression on her face. He had a million thoughts running through his head, but he knew he didn't need until the end of the night to make a decision. He loved the business that he was in and would do anything to help it out, as well as himself. A slight smile fell upon his face and Stephanie clasped her hands together. "I already know my answer, Stephanie. You know that I love this company and would do anything for it, so of course I'll do Dancing with the Stars." A wide smile spread across her face. "I also already know who I want to train Mara. I just have to go speak with him before I can let you know for sure. I will let you know before the end of the night, though. So, I'll be back to speak with you later."

Stephanie continued to smile in John's direction. "Thank you so much for doing this John. I'm sure Mara will understand when you explain the situation to her. She may be in your shoes one day, as well."

John nodded at the woman across from him before walking out of her office. He walked up and down the corridors before finding the locker room he was looking for. He knew he didn't need to knock, but he decided to anyways. When the door opened, he looked into the face of his confused friend.

"You know you didn't have to knock. You never do."

"I know." John chuckled. "I need to ask you a favor, and it's serious, so I need you to take this seriously."

Randy wiped the smile off of his face and stared at his friend intently. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's completely fine. I just got this offer, and I found out that I'm not going to be able to train Mara. I would really appreciate it if you would take my place in training her. I'm only asking you because I know you'll train her in the way that I was planning to. You're not the type of person to take it easy on her, but you know when enough is enough. You wouldn't let me down, or her. And I know you'd make sure she knew everything she needed to know before she stepped into the ring for her first match." John paused for a second, smiling to himself when he thought of something. "Also, I don't think she'd be too upset with me when she found out it was you taking my place in training her. I really think she took a liking to you earlier."

"Well, we can't have that, Johnny Boy." Randy held up his left hand. "I'm a married man."

"Oh, shut up. She knows you're married, and I know she's not going to try anything with you. That's nothing that you need to worry about."

"I'm not too sure that I wouldn't mind if she did. I took a liking to her earlier, as well." Randy winked at his friend, receiving a punch to the arm. "What was that for?"

"You just flashed your left hand at me. Why don't you flash it to yourself, buddy?"

Randy rolled his eyes. "I know I'm married, and I love my wife. But the answer to what you're asking me is yes. I'll train Mara for you. You're the one that has to break the news to her, though."

* * *

Mara was still sitting in John's locker room, wondering what was taking him so long. Four matches had already passed since his segment, and she was getting worried. Of course, she knew nothing would happen to him around here, she didn't really know what she was worrying about. As soon as she was about to open the door to go find John, the door opened and hit her in the face. She backed away, covering her face with her hands, and checking to make sure she wasn't bleeding.

John walked in the room with a horrified look on his face. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry, Mara."

"It's definitely not your fault. There was no way you could have known that I was standing right on the other side of the door." She chuckled. Of course she would get herself in this kind of situation. "Thankfully I'm not bleeding, and nothing seems to be broken. So I think I'm pretty good." Her mind flashed back to what she was doing before she got hit in the face with the door. "Where were you? You said fifteen minutes, and it's clearly been longer than fifteen minutes."

"I'm sorry about that, too. Stephanie needed to talk to me in her office." John looked down at his feet. "There's something I need to talk to you about. How about we sit down?"

Mara took her seat back on the couch, and John followed after her. He looked at her for a few minutes before he started speaking. "You can't hate me, okay?"

"I don't think I could ever hate you, even if I wanted to."

"If you say so, but you might change your mind after you hear what I have to say." She just shook her head, urging him to continue. "Well, Stephanie called me into her office to tell me that they wanted me to participate on the next season of Dancing with the Stars. Not only would it be an amazing opportunity for me, but for the company as well. But, what I'm trying to get at is that I'm not going to be able to train you like I promised. And I'm so sorry. But, I'd really only be here on Mondays for Raw. And in a couple of months I won't be here for a while." John watched as Mara's face fell. Maybe she was going to hate him after all. "Do you hate me?"

"Of course I don't hate you. This is going to be a wonderful experience for you."

John let out the breath that he had apparently been holding and smiled at her. "I've picked out the perfect person to train you, though. And I know that he's not going to let you or me down. He's going to make sure that you know absolutely everything before your first match. He's going to be a wonderful trainer."

"Who is it?" Mara asked excitedly. She was excited when she found out that John was going to be training her, and she didn't think that this new person would make her as excited as she was before. But, maybe she was wrong. She waited patiently for John to answer her question, and her jaw dropped as soon as the name left his lips.

"Randy Orton."


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: I was asked to write this story by DivaliciousDooL, so the idea of the story and Mara belong completely to her!**

**This chapter is pretty short, but I felt like I needed to end it where I ended it. Please let me know what you think.**

**IMPORTANT: I have a few ideas for my next story, which I'm not going to start until I get at least one of the stories I have going finished, but I want your opinion on which superstar you want to be involved in my next story. I'm not going to tell the ideas for the stories yet, but I do have the superstars already fit into the stories, so I'm just wondering which story you guys would want posted first. I have a story with Wade Barrett, The Miz, and Chris Jericho. Please let me know which story you'd like to have posted first. And please let me know what you think about this chapter (:**

* * *

"Are you serious? You've got to be shitting me. You can't be serious." John put his hand on Mara's shoulder, as she began hyperventilating. He was confused as to why she was reacting like this. He figured she would be excited about him training her.

"Are you okay, Mara? I thought you'd be excited about him training you. That's why I picked him. The main reason was because I knew he would train you just like I would, but I felt like you had the best connection with him earlier out of all of the people you met." John had a concerned look on his face as Mara finally looked up into his eyes. A slight smile formed on her face. It was cute how he was worrying about her right now.

"I'm fine, John. There's nothing wrong with Randy training me."

"I don't understand why you were acting how you were just now."

"It's a girl thing. You shouldn't understand it."

John stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, letting her words sink into his mind. Then her words clicked. "You've got a little crush on Orton."

"It's not a crush. I'm not twelve." Mara rolled her eyes and lightly hit John's shoulder. He chuckled. "Crushes are for twelve year olds. He's just really cute. I mean, any girl would be crazy not to think he was cute, and completely freak out when they found out he was training them."

"Did you freak out like that when you found out I was training you?"

"Well, no." John had a mock-hurt expression on his face. "I've like, been in love with Randy Orton for as long as I can remember; ever since he started with the WWE. You've always been one of my favorites; I'm just not in love with you like I am Randy."

"You are so crazy. I don't understand how you're in love with him when you haven't even really met him. I think you're just in lust."

"That could be it. You're a smart man." He grinned widely at the girl standing in front of him. "I'm going to miss you. I really do wish you were still training me."

"I'll check up on how everything's going when I come back weekly. I'm sure Eve will help Randy, as well. You're going to be in good hands."

"Thank you, John."

* * *

By the end of the week, Mara was exhausted. Training with Randy was nothing like she expected it to be. She expected him to be a little bit more easy-going than John would have been, but surprisingly, he was worse. He woke her up each morning at five, and they worked until sometimes nine at night with only a few small breaks during the day. There were some days when he was a little lenient, maybe a little tired himself, but even on those days he worked her until she couldn't take too much more. She understood that this was all for her own good, but she felt like she deserved a break during the week. John would have at least given her that. Well, maybe not. He had a crazy schedule for her as well.

Mara groaned as she heard the knock on her door, letting her know that it was time to go. She opened the door to her hotel room and glared into the smiling face looking back at her. How in the hell could he be so happy at five in the morning? How could anyone be so happy at five in the morning?

"Someone doesn't look too happy this morning. Did you forget to take your happy pills?" The glare on Mara's face grew when that question left his mouth. "I take that as a yes." He pinched her check, causing her to slap his hand away.

"Why are you so cheerful?"

"Why are you so grouchy?"

"Probably because it's five o'clock in the morning."

"You should be used to it by now. There's going to be times when you have to wake up earlier than this, when you hardly get any sleep the night before. It's just something you get used to. And when you bite people's heads off like you're doing mine, you're going to get hit." He chuckled a little. "So I think this attitude is something else we need to work on. Let's try this again."

Randy pushed Mara back into her room and closed the door as he walked back into the hallway. This was ridiculous, Mara didn't need a replay. She was going to be the same way this time when he knocked. But, maybe he did have a point. She was going to have to get used to waking up so early in the morning. Apparently he wasn't going to let her sleep anytime soon.

She heard Randy knocking on her door again and plastered a huge smile on her face. She swung open the door and tackled Randy to the floor with a hug. "Good morning, Randy! Oh my gosh, I can't wait for training today. It's going to be so awesome. What's on the agenda for today? I think I took one too many of my happy pills." She looked down into Randy's eyes, and saw the laughter that wasn't escaping. She raised her eyebrows and pulled herself up to a seated position. "Better?"

He copied her moves, sitting up as well. "Much better. But that was a little _too_ enthusiastic. Maybe we should try this again…."

"No! No, we are not doing it again! I'm perfectly fine, let's just go."

"Yes ma'am."

Randy pushed himself up off the floor and extended his hand to help Mara up. She gladly accepted it and smiled at him as she shut her hotel room door. Although sometimes Randy got on her nerves, they had developed a great friendship in the week that they had been spending together. He was the only person she saw, and really the only person she talked to. Eve called sometimes to see if she wanted to hang out, but Mara just didn't have the time. She definitely wasn't complaining about the time spent with Randy; she enjoyed it.

"Mara?" Mara blinked a few times, realizing that Randy had been talking to her while she was in her own little world.

"Yeah? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"I can tell. I just asked what you thought about going to get some breakfast this morning before we got started."

"That's fine."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Mara and Randy were seated across from each other in a booth at Waffle House. They were getting weird looks from the other patrons inside the restaurant, but both of them ignored the stares. They probably recognized Randy from TV, and they probably recognized Mara as not Randy's wife.

"How often do you get to go home?" Mara asked, looking up at Randy from her menu. She wasn't trying to be nosey, she was just curious.

"Well, I could go home more often that I do. I just don't. I mean, I love spending time with my daughter, and my wife. But, things have been kind of rocky at home lately. I don't enjoy being home as much as I used to, so I limit my visits. I go home about once a month for only a weekend." Randy paused, thinking something over. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't throw my personal problems at you." Talking to Mara about his relationship with his wife definitely wasn't something that he should be doing. He's supposed to be training her, not forming some kind of relationship with her.

"No, it's okay. You can talk to me about anything. I think of you as a good friend, even if I have only known you for a week. But, I spend most of my time with you. So I'd like to think that I can talk to you about anything, and I want you to know there's nothing you can't talk to me about." Randy took his last thoughts back. Obviously she thinks there's a friendship forming, so maybe he should just let it be. He did feel like she was becoming a good friend of his.

"You can talk to me about anything. Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

"Not at the moment. Is there anything you'd like to talk to me about?" She had a slight smile on her face, and Randy couldn't help but grin at her.

He thought her question over for a few minutes before speaking. "I just don't know what to do about my relationship with my wife. I feel like we're just falling apart. I don't want to put Alanna through that, but I don't want to be stuck in a relationship that I'm not happy in."

"Maybe you should go home more often and try to fix your relationship with your wife."

"What if there's nothing left to fix?"


End file.
